Boil kettle condenser - no overhead ventilation needed

[mcgeebc]

I love the smell of brewing, but not everyone in the house agrees. Does this method help eliminate the steam and the smell?

 

[ajt2]

I've put together a parts list for a couple different variants of this that mount to the lid. You can silver solder the ferrule to the lid after cutting a hole in it. I'll be going with the 6"x2" bowl reducer and 2" tri-clover parts on a 25 gallon kettle. I'm going to cut some silicon hose down one side to make a gasket that fits onto the kettle to help reduce the amount of steam. I found a 2" tri-colver flange that has a 1/2" Female NPT on both sides letting you attach a 90 degree elbow to the top, and the 1/2" to 1/8" reducer inside.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...10pD__4kqO4stmfrUpKCSI8ai1I/edit#gid=44636811

 

[Dockside_Brewing]

I just ordered the parts for a 1.5" TC version with an instrument T, 1.5" weldless bulkhead and the 9.5 GPH sprayer to install on a Colorado Brew systems Nano 20. The parts should be here Thursday. I am going to install it on Friday, do a test boil to determine my new boil off rate and brew a 10 gallon batch of https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/summer-citra-cerveza.449595/ on Saturday.

 

[ajt2]

@Dockside_Brewing, I look forward to hearing how that beer turns out and if all the DMS gets expelled. The steam condenser is the last thing I'll be purchasing for my system so I'll wait for you feed back before I proceed. Going with a 6" to 2" reducer is probably over kill and I could easily get away with using a 1.5" TC.

Will you be mounting this to the lid or the side of you brew kettle?

 

[BrunDog]

I love the smell of brewing, but not everyone in the house agrees. Does this method help eliminate the steam and the smell?

The steam... yes. The smell... somewhat. It won't eliminate it entirely.

 

[Thedutchtouch]

this is an extremely interesting thread. I to am eagerly awaiting results from the test batches, though don't really brew a lot of lagers and helles, so it may not matter as much to me. I'll likely try buy a flat lid for my keggle that i could cut in half and solder some stainless hinges in order to top mount this, and still be able to open (part of) the lid for hop additions etc. unless anyone has a good line on a hinged stainless lid. time to start searching alibaba...

 

[Dockside_Brewing]

@Dockside_Brewing, I look forward to hearing how that beer turns out and if all the DMS gets expelled. The steam condenser is the last thing I'll be purchasing for my system so I'll wait for you feed back before I proceed. Going with a 6" to 2" reducer is probably over kill and I could easily get away with using a 1.5" TC.

Will you be mounting this to the lid or the side of you brew kettle?

Mine will be mounted on the side . I have 65 psi water pressure so this should really work well with the larger nozzle. I’ll docum ent the install with lots of photos.

 

[baulz]

this is an extremely interesting thread. I to am eagerly awaiting results from the test batches, though don't really brew a lot of lagers and helles, so it may not matter as much to me. I'll likely try buy a flat lid for my keggle that i could cut in half and solder some stainless hinges in order to top mount this, and still be able to open (part of) the lid for hop additions etc. unless anyone has a good line on a hinged stainless lid. time to start searching alibaba...

I am interested in this for my next upgrade as well and have been thinking about a 2nd 1.5" TC fitting in the lid with a solid cap on it that can be removed for hop additions. Seems to me the simplest method although the cap and clamp will be too hot to touch with bare hands.

 

[blksabbath]

Very cool idea. I wonder if you could just modify a water bed/aquarium venturi pump for this. I used to have a set-up where I used a little venturi pump to create a vacuum in the fermenter which would pull wort from my kettle, thru the cfc and into the fermenter. There was a comercially available one called the "wort wizard" probably about 10 years ago. Anyways, here's the little pump part that you can find for under $10. It hooks directly to your garden hose then you would have to modify the vacuum port to connect to your kettle.

 

[BrunDog]

What is the water flow rate through this?

 

[blksabbath]

What is the water flow rate through this?

According to the company that sells this one 200gal/hr or 3.3 gal/min.
http://www.innomax.com/index2.php?crn=193

 

[BrunDog]

According to the company that sells this one 200gal/hr or 3.3 gal/min.
http://www.innomax.com/index2.php?crn=193

The sprayer we are proposing uses <10 gal/hour. I think it would be tough to justify dumping 200 gallons of water over the course of the boil.

 

[blksabbath]

The sprayer we are proposing uses <10 gal/hour. I think it would be tough to justify dumping 200 gallons of water over the course of the boil.

I just reread my post and realized how stupid that is. Anyways....Carry on.

 

[BrunDog]

Haha no biggie! Sometimes you focus on one specification and forget about the impact to the others! I do it all the time...

 

[HobbyBrauer]

This is very intriguing to me as an apartment brewer and I have been researching these "barometric" / jet condensers over the past couple of days. I wanted to see what everyone's thought on a couple of questions I have had:

1) Most designs I've seen online have the steam inlet in the bottom half (above the water drain) but also a open-air vent above the spray water inlet to allow for incondensable vapors to escape. Now having this port would limit the vacuum effect since it would now be an open system but perhaps this would better facilitate DMS and other volatile gasses removal?

2) I'm pondering how the mounting of the condenser could effect its performance. My concern with just attaching it via a Tee is the potential for spray water or condensed vapors to drip back into the kettle which would obviously defeat the purpose of boiling beyond sanitation. I like the idea of mounting this "column" on the wall behind my kettle with a length of silicone tubing at a negative angle (i.e. the condenser is lower than the kettle lid) so that all condensate goes to the condenser. Assuming I use a large diameter hose do you think this added length (1-2 ft.) could cause a negative impact?

3) Would there be any benefit to using a larger diameter condenser / chamber? If I used a 4" OD Tube instead of a 2" so 4x the volume vs the same length of 2" Tube would it work "better?"

 

[Dockside_Brewing]

Here is the link to my Brundog condenser build and review. Thanks Brundog!

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/...o-from-co-brewing.575659/page-31#post-8171285

 

[BrunDog]

Really nice work! Let us know how it works out!

 

[ingchr1]

I'm in the process of building a recirc BIAB kettle with the recirc going through the lid. I'm going to use the same 1.5" TC port for the recirc and condenser. After I pull the bag my plan is to swap out the recirc with the condenser. Like others have brought up this could make it difficult to get into the kettle for hop additions and such. The ideas I came up with were:

Hinged lid - Looked around on-line but couldn't find anything pre-made. Was hoping to find something like a soup kettle lid that would fit my 44qt Bayou Classic. I also thought about just cutting my lid and bolting on a hinge. But I feared it would not come out well, which was the likely outcome.

Add a second TC port - I could get a TC cap and devise a way to attach a handle to it (e.g. drill a hole and attach with a screw). I also thought a funnel may be needed to make additions easier. For the funnel I probably would have used a TC concentric reducer. I thought this option was a good viable idea.

Use a flex hose - This is the idea I ended up choosing. I'm going to use a 90 out the top of kettle to a 1.5" stainless flex hose, attached with 1.5" hose barbs. I searched around for the flex hose and found a 20" length for $20 that's meant for a turbo. It's a Vibrant Performance Flexible Interlock Hose. I ordered it from Summit (https://www.summitracing.com/parts/VPE-84027).

I ordered the hose first to see if it was viable and if a 90 was needed or not out of the top of the kettle. I decided a 90 would probably be best so the flex hose can be sloped down to the condenser. The hose can be flexed into one sweeping arc that would place it about 12" above the kettle, but allow for no down slope.

I have the rest of the parts on order and will post up when I get this thing built and tested out. My only concern at this point is how good the seal between the hose and barbs is going to be. If it does need to be sealed, I guess I could just apply silicone sealant to the barbs.

 

[Dockside_Brewing]

Brewed a 10 gallon batch yesterday and it worked flawlessly. For a 60 minute boil I ended up with about 13 gallons of waste water. No steam left the pot with a really vigorous boil. I am adding a bulkhead to my sink with a camloc to send the waste to the drain instead of a bucket. Brundog's condenser mod in a no brainer. I like the DIY version better than Brew Boss's. Its larger, cheaper, and looks better. No lid gasket needed.

 

[bfalkowski]

I also have a Nano and I am considering this build in lieu of a hood. My concern is my hop basket (would allow steam to escape) and also a full kettle (would definitely fill up to the TC port). The fix for me would be a lid TC port connection. But I still need to come up with a hops basket solution. Any thoughts?

 

[BrunDog]

Glad to hear it went well @Dockside_Brewing! Please keep us informed how it turns out. Curiously: what did you need to lower your heat % from/to for the boil? What was your boil-off rate change?

I did a brew last week of an Oktoberfest (oops) and it would have went well, but there were two confounding factors:
1. I forgot to update my hops alpha into the recipe, and it turned out the Hallertau I had for the bittering hops was a much lower alpha than needed. I added all that I had and boiled it longer but it still is probably going to be too sweet.
2. I also forgot to update my recipe to accommodate for the lower boil-off rate. And the recipe was set for a 90 minute boil. Pre-condenser it was ~1.25 gph. Post condenser it is more like 0.35 gph. Therefore I would have had 1.35 gallons too much ad the end of the boil. As a result, I took the lid off with 15 mins left in the boil and turned up the heat. So unfortunately I will not be able to claim success or failure in the finished beer since the condenser was not used for the whole boil. I will say the waste water has a definite scent and smell of sweetness... so it is not just water leaving the kettle.

So... word of caution for anyone trying this... figure out your new boil-off rate and adjust your recipes!

 

[Dockside_Brewing]

I agree 100%. I did a one hour test boil to come of with my .7 gph boil rate, The waste water has a strong aroma and its hot so I know its pulling the boil off out. The bad steam still gets out but its much more efficient. I have never seen an open kettle at any of the breweries I have visited.

 

[BrunDog]

What nozzle did you use (6 or 9 gph @40 psi)? Do you know what your home water pressure is?

The key is the water exiting the drain is very hot, as in just below boiling. If it is too cold, the misting from the nozzle is either inefficient, in which case some of the steam will not get converted, or the flow is too high, which is just wasting extra water. I used the 9 gph but I think I am going to go back to the 6 as I think I get more efficient misting with the 6. My home water pressure is probably around 30 psi.

 

[Dockside_Brewing]

I have the 9 gph mister. I am checking the water pressure this afternoon.

 

[jahlinux]

@Dockside_Brewing the pictures of your brewery are incredible, nice work! Unboxing the Nano from CO Brewing My 25 gal kettle has a lip around the outside of it. So the top of the hole will be down approximately 2" from the top of the kettle? Do you guys see any problems with that? I'm not worried about wort level during the boil, I do 10 gal batches. May have to have it closed off with a blank when I'm mashing a big beer, but that shouldn't be a problem.

 

[bfalkowski]

@jahlinux I have the same kettle from CBS. I'm thinking about mounting on lid, but have to figure out a hop basket reconfiguration.

 

[Dockside_Brewing]

I ordered a hop basket from Brew Hardware (https://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/hopbasket800.htm) I also ordered two super magnet strips (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01L2VN4VC/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20) My plan is to JB weld one to the basket and use the other one on the outside of the kettle to hold the basket in place. This will keep the lid sealed for the condenser system.

 

[Dockside_Brewing]

What nozzle did you use (6 or 9 gph @40 psi)? Do you know what your home water pressure is?

The key is the water exiting the drain is very hot, as in just below boiling. If it is too cold, the misting from the nozzle is either inefficient, in which case some of the steam will not get converted, or the flow is too high, which is just wasting extra water. I used the 9 gph but I think I am going to go back to the 6 as I think I get more efficient misting with the 6. My home water pressure is probably around 30 psi.

I just put the pressure meter on my house....60 PSI. I am going to order the 6.32 and 3.16 to experiment with. I wish they had a spec for other water pressures.

 

[BrunDog]

That's a big difference and explains the 13 gallons of waste water you had (although the steam should add to the volume too... so maybe 12.3 is spray and 0.7 is boil-off). 60 psi is nice. Higher pressure is better as you create finer particles to more efficiently convert the steam. I think you can try the 6, but I would wait on trying one smaller than that.

 

[Dockside_Brewing]

@Dockside_Brewing the pictures of your brewery are incredible, nice work! Unboxing the Nano from CO Brewing My 25 gal kettle has a lip around the outside of it. So the top of the hole will be down approximately 2" from the top of the kettle? Do you guys see any problems with that? I'm not worried about wort level during the boil, I do 10 gal batches. May have to have it closed off with a blank when I'm mashing a big beer, but that shouldn't be a problem.

View attachment 550161

Thanks for the compliment.......I do not see a problem. I also do 10 gallon batches. I have a 1.5" tri blank cap in case I have to mash some massive beer. Once the basket is out I can connect the condenser for boil.